Health care sharing ministries — alternatives to health insurance that are based on religious principles — received an exemption from the individual mandate in the 2010 Affordable Care Act. Credit:Photo illustration by Lisa Larson-Walker/ProPublica. Photos: Rafael Suanes / MCT / Tribune News Service / Getty, Saul Loeb / Getty 

Joe Guarino rescued an entire industry with help from what some called “divine” intervention.

A little-known lobbyist from Virginia, Guarino was hired in 2007 by the Alliance of Health Care Sharing Ministries, the trade association for nonprofit alternatives to medical insurance founded on Christian principles. Health care sharing ministries take fees from members, which are then used to pay other members’ health bills.

At the time, the industry had been tainted by a scandal involving one of the largest ministries in the country, the Christian Brotherhood Newsletter, based outside Canton, Ohio. State authorities won $14 million in civil judgments against two of its top leaders for enriching themselves instead of paying the medical bills of its members. A ProPublica investigation last month revealed that many of the Brotherhood’s executives, including Daniel […]

Read the Full Article